This page has been validated.
672
THE INDIAN ARMY

degrees the warnings of the Mutiny faded away, the Bengal Army had become unwieldy, and was fast tiding to an amalgamation of material, and it was only in 1879, when the Afghan War was teaching us a sharp lesson, that those who believed it to be possible to have a better system of administration, with a more scientific and a more secure plan, were able to obtain a hearing. Things did not move fast, a great deal of discussion took place, and it was not until 1895 that the Bengal Army was divided into two parts, or Commands—the Punjab, with its Pathán, Sikh, and Punjabi regiments; the Bengal, with its Hindustanis—and the Madras and Bombay armies allotted to the areas to be known as the Madras and Bombay Commands; while the Commander-in-Chief in India was given full powers over all, with the intention that he should delegate to the Generals commanding the forces in these great territorial areas a large measure of initiative and responsibility. Since 1879 immense progress has been made in every branch of the army and in every department appertaining to it. Increase of the army by 10,000 British and 20,000 native troops, reserves, linking of battalions, establishment of regimental centres, the amalgamation of hitherto separate presidential departments, the creation of Imperial service troops, increase of pay to the native army, reorganization of recruiting, re-armament, elimination of inferior material, introduction of the double-company system in the infantry, complete reorganization of the transport, increase to the supply and transport corps, establishment of mounted infantry schools, formation (1886) of a plan of mobilization and its development, completion of frontier and coast defences, reform of horse-breeding, remount, and military account departments, institution of an ambulance corps, a great development in the manufacture of warlike stores, and continuous improvements in the sanitary service of the army—these are some of the measures which were carried out prior to 1908, from which year a fresh departure took place in the unification of the army, and a further 'reorganization' was